Things Fall Apart Themes

(Click the themes infographic to download.) Much of the traditional Igbo life presented in this novel revolves around structured gender roles. Essentially all of Igbo life is gendered, from the cr...

(Click the themes infographic to download.) For the Igbo, there are a few key ideas that form the basis of an ideal family: mutual respect for each other, a reverence for all past fathers, and uni...

(Click the themes infographic to download.) Reputation is extremely important to the men in the novel. Personal reputation is publicly denoted by the ankle bracelets men wear, which signify the nu...

(Click the themes infographic to download.) Many of the characters suffer from fear of some sort. Okonkwo fears becoming like his lazy, shameful father, Ekwefi fears losing her daughter, and Nwoye...

(Click the themes infographic to download.) The Igbo gods are mostly manifestations of nature and its elements, which makes sense because they are an agricultural society that depends on the regul...

(Click the themes infographic to download.) In Things Fall Apart, sin is defined as a crime against the gods. Such transgressions occur when a member of society violates the most intimate bonds of...

(Click the themes infographic to download.) Igbo lifestyle is highly stylized, from its ritual speech to the actions performed for certain ceremonies. Most of these formalized interactions occur i...

(Click the themes infographic to download.) As an agricultural society, the survival of the Umuofia depends on the earth and its predictable cycle of seasons. Thus we see frequent worship of the e...

(Click the themes infographic to download.) Social rank and relative wealth play great roles in determining a person’s destiny in Umuofia society. But sometimes a man with sheer force of will ca...

(Click the themes infographic to download.) Speech is highly stylized in Igbo culture, with specific rules on how to addresses a neighbor, a superior, an ancestral spirits, and the gods. Respect i...